


puttin' on those bedroom eyes

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Het, Rare Pairings, Romance, february bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3386099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe finds Caitlin at S.T.A.R. Labs one evening and tries to entice her home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	puttin' on those bedroom eyes

**Author's Note:**

> February Bingo: prompt "bedroom eyes"

When Joe walks into S.T.A.R. Labs, he knows things are bad with just one look at Caitlin's profile. She's studying her computer screen as if the fate of the free world depends on it (and of course, it just might) and her hair is loose, bearing all the hallmarks of her having run her hands through it more than once. She's chewing her bottom lip so fiercely he's surprised she hasn't drawn blood and the line of tension running along her shoulders makes his own shoulders ache. 

"I know you're there," he hears her say when he hasn't spoken, hasn't moved for a good minute, has just been standing there, watching her. 

Joe lets one shoulder rise and fall in an easy shrug. "Just admiring the view," he says, puts as much of a smirk into the words as he can. He knows things are worse than he thought when she doesn't even smile. "Barry told me what happened... said you'd be here," he adds, walking towards her and that does make her lips twist in something that is the vaguest cousin to a smile, but something that holds no humour. 

"Next you'll tell me he actually approves of us." Her voice is curiously brittle, like she knows what he's going to say next. 

"I wouldn't go that far." Her shoulders slump almost imperceptibly and if he didn't know her so well, he probably wouldn't have noticed. But he does know her well, and that small gesture actually physically hurts him. "But he's worried about you." He's standing beside her now, close enough to touch but he keeps his hands to himself. For now.

"I'm fine." One hand pushes back her hair behind her ear and her eyes flick over to him briefly. "Or I will be. As soon as I find what I'm looking for." 

This close, he can see the shadows under her eyes, the pallor of her cheeks and he curses himself for not checking in with her for the last forty eight hours. "You need to come home," he says, moving so he's standing behind her, laying his hands on her shoulders. His fingers knead the knotted muscles, wincing at how tight they are. "Get a good meal and a good night's sleep." Her head drops and the breathy little moan she lets our makes him think that he's making headway. "Let me take you home."

He drops his voice an octave on purpose and he hopes that the shiver that runs through her body is a result of that. Her head moves from side to side, hair falling in front of her cheeks and he reaches around, pulls it back so that his neck is exposed to his eyes, to his lips. He presses a kiss there, feels her pulse quicken as she sighs. "I have to do this, Joe..."

He turns her in his arms, one hand going to her cheek. "You can't do anything if you work yourself into the ground," he points out, his thumb moving up and down her cheek and she sighs again, relaxing in his arms ever so slightly.  

"You can't come in here with those puppy dog eyes and try to lead me astray," she counters and he grins, his other hand coming to rest on her other cheek so that he's cupping her face in his hands, staring down at her.

"Puppy dog eyes ain't exactly the look I was going for," he tells her, keeping that same low tone in his voice. This time, it results in a full body shiver and he smiles as he brings his lips to hers. He intends it to be a gentle kiss, almost a promise, but her hands go to his hips, bringing them into closer contact with hers and she deepens the kiss, holding onto him with a ferocity that takes him by surprise. 

When she pulls away, he rests his forehead against hers, tries to get his breathing under control as he fights the urge to find the nearest flat surface and drive every thought of her fruitless search from her mind. He realises that might have already happened when her hand reaches up, a shaking finger tracing his lips. "Those bedroom eyes get me every time," she murmurs and if that's not an invitation, he doesn't know what is. 

"Let me take you home," he says again, jutting his chin towards the computers. "This'll still be here in the morning..." She nods, throws a glance over her shoulder, bites her lip one more time and he figures out instantly what she's contemplating. "Or do you want  to do that thing where you set up an alert to your tablet that sounds loud enough to wake the dead?"

Her smile is bright against the sudden pink of her cheeks. "Give me five minutes?"

He shakes his head as if annoyed but he's fairly sure his smile gives him away. "Take as long as you need... I'll wait."


End file.
